Ignoring qualms, some in GOP nurture dreams of impeaching Obama

WASHINGTON — Rep. Kerry Bentivolio, a Republican from Michigan, has a legislative dream. It is not to balance the federal budget, or find a way to help his ailing state or even take away money from the federal health care program, a goal that has so animated many Republicans this summer.

Rather, Bentivolio told constituents, it is to put in motion the impeachment of President Barack Obama. “If I could write that bill and submit it, it would be a dream come true,” he said this month.

Bentivolio is hardly the only one with this desire.

While many members of Congress have used their August break to engage in conversations about immigration policy, the federal budget and the impending implementation of the Affordable Care Act, some Republicans have taken the opportunity to raise the specter of — if not quite the grounds for — presidential impeachment.

At least two other House Republicans told voters this month that the impeachment process could happen. And last week, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who has called himself a friend of the president, told constituents that the nation was “perilously close” to an impeachment situation.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas lamented to a voter who asked about the prospect of impeachment that the Senate, controlled by Democrats, would probably not yield the needed votes for conviction.

Lawmakers have not laid out any charges of high crimes and misdemeanors against Obama.